Easter Candy

You know how I mentioned in one of my posts that Will always wins the game of self control at the ice cream store Yo-lo? This Easter has become a painfully trying time for me as I have somehow managed to be dangerously surrounded by yummy, sugary Easter treats. Will's step-mom sent us both an adorable little basket of goodies and then at work, my office mate brought in her Easter candy bounty from home so there is no escape!! My predicament makes me think of this post on an absolutely hilarious blog that Will has got me hooked on called: Hyperbole and a Half.  She writes and illustrates these highly entertaining stories about her childhood, her dog, etc. One of my personal favorites is called "The God of Cake". The gist of the story is that she steals a bite of cake and then is so intoxicated by how delicious it is, she becomes totally obsessed with getting more. That's a bit how I feel everyday at work! I eat just one piece of candy, then another, then all I can think about is, "candy, candy, candy, candy, candy!!!". This pic from her blog describes that feeling perfectly...

 In the spirit of her blog, I tried to create my own little illustration just to see...

Don't let the chocolate-y cuteness fool you!

It's actually a lot of fun! But I realize now how much work she must put into each post. Goodness! One of the other posts I find entertaining is "This is Why I'll Never be an Adult". ("Must clean all the things!!!")
Check it out.
Do it.
:-)

Happy Easter Y'all!

Today was a gorgeous day for the Easter holiday here in Memphis. This weekend it has been mostly sunny with highs in the 80's. I love it! :-)
This weekend, Will and I did a lot of relaxing and many of the things we typically enjoy such as: getting dinner and margaritas :-) at Cafe Ole in Midtown.

 Grabbing a drink and enjoying the sights downtown at Flying Saucer

I go "nuts-O" for donuts-o!

 Nibbling on a midnight donut-snack at Gibson's.

Saturday we scored some great local eats at the farmer's market then made the best pizza I think I have ever tasted from our market finds. We baked a homemade wheat crust, created the pizza sauce from fresh oregano and heirloom tomatoes (which I had a lot of fun squishing up with my hands before we simmered them!) and topped it with sauteed garlic cloves, sliced onions, and spinach. Yum!!

Mmmm... Squishy!

Perfection!

I'm about to snack on some leftovers now! :-)
This week should be exciting as I am looking forward to loads of live music and festivities this weekend as the world famous "Memphis in May" begins!

Sometimes You Just Need a Cookie!

     The weekend is almost here!! I can't believe how fast the weeks just seem to fly by. Now that I'm a real (?) working adult (no more summer, Christmas, or Easter vacation! :-/ ), I am beginning to really cherish my weekends.This weekend should be pretty chill as we gear up for the excitement of Memphis in May next weekend! :-)
   The Office is on again tonight. Steve Carrell's last days are quickly drawing to a close. In Cleveland, Charis and I used to go to our friend Neal's house every week bearing brownies or other treats to watch it. (I miss those days!) Tonight, I am heading over to Will's. He had a bit of a stressful/frustrating day so what better cure than some homemade chocolate chip cookies? Even though I'm a dietitian and I know that cookies are "bad" there's just no replacing a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, just out of the oven chocolate chip cookie! I love adding walnuts and oats to mine to, you know, up the "healthiness" factor. Haha.

Mmmmm....

     In other news... I donated blood today at work. Every time there's the opportunity to donate, I debate about whether I should volunteer. Normally, I talk myself into it, not out of a feeling of do-good-ness but mostly because I am just curious about my iron status... They always check your hemoglobin level before you give to make sure you're not anemic and every time they test me I am secretly hoping I will be anemic so I don't really have to go through with the whole donation thing.  So far though, I've always been good to go. When I gave today, it reminded me of a funny story from my internship when I went to donate blood with my friend Christine. She was sent to a chair first and the nurse poked her arm and everything seemed good. The nurse then came over to my chair to poke my arm. As she inserted the needle, I closed my eyes and upon opening them again, my mouth dropped and my eyes popped out of my head as I was horrified to see that the front of Christine's shirt was covered in blood!!!!  When the nurse adjusted her needle, some blood had squirted out across her shirt! It was probably one of the freakiest things I've ever seen. She mostly got a huge kick out of the face I made when I saw her. Lol. Luckily, she had another shirt to wear so she didn't have to walk around the hospital the rest of the day looking like someone coming straight out of a horror film! Haha.
    I'm beginning to feel like I may really enjoy living here in Memphis. It's almost been 4 months since I moved so it's about time I start to feel a bit more settled in. This evening I was pleasantly surprised by one of my neighbors with this little "Welcome to Memphis, neighbor" gift certificate and awesome pint glass (I had been needing on of those!) from a local bike shop. I was flabbergasted when he dropped it off! I was such an incredibly kind gesture! He said he saw Will and I with our bikes in the hall over the weekend when we were fixing my flat tire and he wanted to give us a little something to welcome us to the apartment/city. It's little acts of kindness like this that make me want to be a better person. More often I should be thinking, "How can I make someone's day today?". I know my neighbor made my day today! :-)

So sweet!!

The Weekend is for...

• Celebrating TGIF(!) with a cupcake from Muddy's! :-)
• Going to the drive-in movies. (Arthur was surprisingly charming.)
• Having a brew from a local pub.
• Supporting local agriculture by visiting the Memphis Farmer's Market (I was so excited!! The first weekend it was open since I moved here!)
• Getting flowers... just because they're really pretty. 

• Tackling a gigantic mound of laundry.
• Curling up on the couch with a funny book. I am currently savoring The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker. (Props to Erica for recommending it! I'm loving every minute of it!)
• Hanging out with this cutie. :-).

• Making an elaborate dinner, ie. baked catfish with a balsamic and sorrel reduction, mashed sweet potatoes, and buttered collard greens. YUM!

• Sipping a glass (or two) of wine.
• Eating YoLo. (This is a fun place for us dietitians to go together. It's a self-serve ice cream shop and your ice cream is priced by weight. Whoever has the lightest dessert has the most self control! Which is usually Will. Haha.)

• Sleeping in.
• Going to church.
• Getting messy eating a bucket of crawfish from the Ragin' Cajun' Crawfish Fest. I admit, at first I was totally creeped out by the prospect of eating something that was still able to look at me, but I worked through it.

• Riding bikes. 
• Soaking up the sunshine.
• Chillin' at home on the couch and watching The Graduate.

No wonder I don't look forward to Monday!

Fact.

Fact. I've become (almost) addicted to reading blogs. One day I thought it might be fun to check out some other blogs to copy I mean, gather ideas, and now I just can't stop checking up on their daily posts! I added a list here on my blog of some of my favorites. As you can tell, I must be a little bit obsessed with food - epecially sweets :-) - because all of the ones I've been following are all about cooking/baking/food photography with a little bit of crafty thrown in. 
Fact. One of the foods I love best above any other? PEANUT BUTTER. So, when the Eat. Live. Run. blog posted a recipe for peanut butter bread... I had to make some. Stat. I tweaked it a little using half whole wheat flour and throwing a couple tablespoons of flax seed just for fun.

Yum!! Where have you been all my life?!

Fact. Just when you think you have it all together.. suddenly you don't. This whole tooth ordeal that I wrote about last time is a mess. :-/ I went to another dentist yesterday who was super busy and totally ignored me for a whole hour while I watched Judge Brown in an examining chair. When he finally did see me, I told him about my tooth and he took one look, cringed (the second one I've seen now which is making me wonder if I don't have a little monster living back there or something!) and said I have to see an oral surgeon. Period. Oi. The dilemma is that I didn't perceive that I would need oral surgery when I started my job and signed up for insurance, so the plan I have only covers the basics like cleanings and x-rays. I also found out I can't add a dental plan until "open season" which is November. So... I guess I'm just SOL. It happens, I guess. At least it doesn't hurt so much anymore. (Phew!) I made an appointment to have it taken out in June. (Eeek!) That way I'll have a little time to save up anyways!
Fact. I have an incredibly sweet BF. After such a discouraging round two with the dentist, I just needed a hug. Will came to the rescue with open arms and a bag of soft Mexican foods ie. enchiladas and soup from Happy Mexican down the street. I feel so lucky. :-)
Fact. Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica. :-) Tomorrow is the last episode of The Office for Michael Scott/Steve Carell. So sad.

It just won't be the same. :-/

Dear Tooth Fairy,

After you hear about my weekend, I hope you may consider me worthy of a little spare change under my pillow. ~Little Debbie

No wonder teething babies get so cranky!! Last week, one of my bottom wisdom teeth decided I had finally become wise enough for it to come in but came with a price! My mouth has been so sore for the last few days, I was almost out of my mind in pain! (To which Will can attest! So sorry he had to put up with me and my grinchiness!!!). Here's a bit of a recap of the last few days:
Scene 1 (Thursday lunch): My tooth had been aching since I woke up that morning and hadn't gone away like I had hoped... I wasn't sure I was going to be able to chew the salad I had packed for lunch so I was thankful I had also packed a PB&J, but wait! When I went to the fridge to get my lunch, my bag was unzipped and my PB&J was G-O-N-E!!! Someone had stolen my handcrafted sandwich on homemade (somewhat crumbly) bread! (And if you know me, I dearly love and covet my PB&J...). They did leave behind my salad and apple... hmm. Well, I hope they enjoyed it at least!  Meanwhile, I feebly chewed my salad with one side of my mouth while I fumed about my sandwich. (It's kind of funny in hindsight. I kind of wish I could have asked what they thought of it!)
Scene 2 (Friday afternoon): As my tooth begins to hurt more and more, I find the pureed/slurried pancakes on a patient's plate on my ward surprisingly appetizing...
Scene 3 (Friday evening): My wisdom tooth is screaming from me in the back of my mouth! Will tries to appease my agony with ice cream (and some meds to help me sleep). :-)
Scene 4 (Saturday morning): Although I have a dentist appointment scheduled for Tuesday, I know I am not going to make it! So, we end up going to a semi-sketch "emergency dentist" named Orpheus (ie. Morpheus) who instead of offering me a blue or red pill to escape my problems, numbs me with novocaine (almost just as good) and writes me a rx for pain killers and penicillin and advises me to see an oral surgeon soon about my wisdom tooth!
Scene 5 (Saturday afternoon): RELIEF! After one stolen PB&J, one trip to see (M)Orpheus, rx pain killers, and a few too many crying episodes later, I finally begin to enjoy my weekend with a walk with Will and Honey at Overton Park followed by a lovely dinner on the rooftop of Vietnamese food from Seigon Le. :-)

Spring is Truly Here!!!

Hmm... this seems to be a common scene on this blog!

It's so good! You just can't take small bites!

Tomorrow, it is off to the dentist with me for a routine cleaning and dum, dum, dum... the verdict on what is to happen to my wisdom tooth. :-(

Bad Day Fix Me Up!

Imagine... It's 6 AM on a bitterly cold and dark morning in Cleveland Ohio. The first thing I think about as I drag myself out  my warm cozy bed? Hot Oatmeal! As I throw some oats in a bowl with skim milk in the microwave I slice a banana and grab the peanut butter out of the cabinet... Oh no. :-( A new jar! Nothing can kill my morning but having to stir my natural peanut butter because no matter what, I always end up making a nutty, oily mess and still end up with hard crusty butter on the bottom of the jar from lack of proper stirring. But no more! After work today, I found a package by my door from Charis which contained a handy-dandy natural peanut butter stirrer! No more mess! No more stone hard peanut butter on the bottom of the jar! I can't wait to open a new jar of pb. :-)

       After a rough day at work it was so nice to come home to surprise! Well, that, and happy hour at the Trolley Stop Market which included a deep, rich Ghost River Oatmeal Stout and  of course chocolate!!! (in the form of "Good Night Kiss" Cake which was a decadent red velvet cake iced in white and dark chocolate frosting and laced with slivered strawberries.) YUM! So good it disappeared before I had a chance to take a pic! :-)

24 and Counting!

"I held so many people in my suitcase heart, that I had to let the whole thing go..." Slow Pony Home - The Weepies

Such Awesome Friends!

     Unlike The Weepies, I am not quite willing to let all the people I carry in my heart go... but I do wish I could pack them up and bring them along with me wherever I go! This past weekend, I met up with some of my friends from Bluffton (Bird, Erica, Lydia, and Ben) to celebrate by 24th (!) in Nashville this weekend! The past few weeks, I had been feeling so frustrated with myself because making new friends is such a slooow process. Spending time with old friends was so refreshing. I was so touched that they all made the long journey from various corners of Ohio/Pennsylvania to enjoy some Southern sunshine and hospitality with me in Nashville. It reminds me how precious relationships really are. Although I may be far from my Northern friends now does not mean I should give up on keeping in touch, it's just a matter of making more of an effort to make sure the relationship doesn't fizzle out. Facebook also served as a reminder of the many friends I have made over the years as so many send their b-day wishes (ones who I may have talked to in the last week and those who I have not heard from in years). It makes me think how many people I have met over my travels, and how I have learned different things from each (and I wonder, 'what did they learn from me?!').

He's Such a Cutie :-)

     Ok, enough babbling! Now, to the fun activities my friends and I enjoyed while in Nashville! :-) Will and I drove after work and met everyone for dinner at Cafe Coco. I tried the Vegan chili and this great avacado garden grill sandwich. After our bellies were filled, we headed downtown to walk the famous Broadway strip lined with many bars, shops, and restaurants and soaked up the sights, sounds, and smells of the nightlife. On Saturday, we had brunch at Sky Blue then walked around the quaint East Nashville (or East Nasty as some locals call it. Haha).  We walked off our breakfast at the breathtaking Cheekwood botanical gardens and mansion. The highlight of the gardens for me was the daffodil show. :-) Will and finished the day off with some of the most delicious pizza and cheese I have ever had in my life at Mafiaoza's. It's no wonder I wasn't ready to go back to work today. :-/ Haha.
  Oh and by the way, I also learned how to walk on water this weekend... see below! 

Just kidding!